How to Earn all of your MOC while studying for Sleep Medicine Boards
- ZZZPack
- Nov 24, 2019
- 3 min read
Let's talk about Maintenance of Certification. After residency I had heard of it, but honestly didn't really know what it was, how to get it, and when to get it by.
While studying for the Sleep Medicine boards I got really into figuring out MOC because there are a lot of ways to pick up MOC doing study activities that you're doing anyway.
I am currently certified in ABIM. So I will tell you about how to pick up ABIM MOC.
1. What is MOC? What about CME?
MOC is "Maintenance of Certification", which basically is a way that your primary board makes sure you are up-to-date in your field years after residency.
CME is "Continuing Medical Education" which are credits that you need to maintain (and keep a record of!) when you renew your license. Each state has slightly different requirements, and there are different categories of CME. Some (but not all) CME can be converted into MOC.
2. When can you start collecting MOC?
As soon as you are board certified in the specialty requiring MOC. Not all specialties require MOC (e.g. Family Medicine), so look up your society's MOC requirements.
Also, some specialties require different categories of MOC (e.g. Pediatrics), so make sure you are keeping on top of that.
3. How many MOC do I need?
ABIM requires that you earn 100 MOC points every 5 years after board certification.
4. Fellowship
ACGME fellowships meeting all the criteria (including completion of a QI project) count for up to 20 MOC points. Yay!
5. You say you collected a bunch of MOC during your studies. Tell me more.
Up to Date
Okay, I am a huge fan of Up to Date for looking things up on the fly. I used that a lot. You get CME points for the articles you read, and those can be converted into ABIM MOC. If you have an Up to Date account, make sure you are converting those CME into MOC!
I obtained 58.5 MOC credits this way in 2019 while studying and looking up articles for clinical practice!
Unfortunately, as of know it seems that the Up to Date CME can only be converted into ABIM CME.
Board Vitals
I used this question bank less than 1 month before the exam to get in the groove of doing timed questions online and to re-enforce my studying.
A lot of the better-known question sources (e.g. Avidan's Sleep Medicine Review, the ACCP SEEK questions, Kryger) are questions associated with a textbook, and not specifically suited to developing computer-based testing stamina.
I personally studied for medical exams in the past (e.g. Steps 1-3, ABIM) by doing loads of questions, so I wanted an online question bank to do the same before the Sleep Mediicne Boards.
There are other options out there, but this one was the cheapest and offers 45 ABIM MOC!!
The MOC are offered at an additional cost, but if you are close to the 5 year mark, this is a great option since it requires no additional effort on your part to get the MOC.
Check it out here-- https://www.boardvitals.com/sleep-medicine-board-review-questions (Please note: I do not represent Board Vitals or get any compensation from them)
AASM Board Review "Final Prep Course"
You can claim 8 ABIM MOC for this course.
I am not sure about the other AASM courses, but my understanding is that participation (at least the online version) in those courses can be claimed for CME, but I did not see an option for MOC.
AASM Board Review course during the annual AASM meeting
You can claim MOC after attending this weekend course in-person during the meeting. I didn't attend, so I do not know how many MOC can be claimed.
So there you have it! If you need to, you can earn all your required ABIM MOC credits while studying for boards!
6. What about if I have other ABIM board certification?
ABIM MOC can be used toward Internal Medicine and additional Internal Medicine subspecialty boards. So if you already are certified in Pulmonary, for example, these MOC can count toward that certification too.
7. What about non-ABIM boards?
There is potential for cross-over with other boards (e.g. Pediatrics), and some MOC can be used for more than one organization's boards. Those are specialty specific, and need to be approved by that board.
Hope this helps demystify things a bit!
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